


These Black Wings

by NikaylaSarae



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Guns, Shooting, Wing!AU, death talk, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26259793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikaylaSarae/pseuds/NikaylaSarae
Summary: An hour ago Patton had been loved, wanted, celebrated. Now? He’s on the run for his life thanks to the large black wings that sprouted from his back.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57





	These Black Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted with minor edits from my Tumblr account @stillebesat.

The crack of multiple gunshots rang in Patton’s ears as brick and mortar rained down on his head. He ducked, clapping a hand over his mouth to silence his yelp as he skidded around the corner, the things--the monstrous wings on his back catching on the edge of the wall. 

Patton twisted to free the black things overshadowing him, ignoring the zing of pain running up from the new limbs just the same as he was ignoring his heart pounding in his chest and his burning lungs as he darted down the narrow alleyway. 

_ Please don’t be a dead end. Please.  _ He prayed, a sob escaping him as the voices rang out from behind.

“Where’d it go?!”

“Find it!”

“We can’t let that monster live!”

“I think it went down this way!”

“THERE IT IS!”

_ But I’m not a monster. I’m not a monster!  _

Patton cried out again as a bullet grazed his leg, causing him to stumble. More shrapnel rained down as the bullets that would have struck his head dug into the concrete above him. He gasped for breath, scrambling to get back to his feet, wincing as another bullet struck the thin--the wing, leaving an ache where it had hit, but no burning sting like the one coming from his leg. 

The bullet hadn’t penetrated. Were...were his wings too thick to be shot through? The things spread in response to the gunshots behind him, shielding his body from a dozen more deadly missiles as Patton broke free from the shadows and darted across the street, narrowly missing getting hit by a bus before he disappeared down another dark alleyway.  _ Lose them. Lose them.  _

But how could he lose them? The big black thi--wings sprouting from his back weren’t exactly invisible. He could already hear a fresh clamor of voices joining those he had once considered to be friends...friends who now wanted to--to….kill him. 

Patton’s vision blurred as tears welled in his eyes, spilling down on his cheeks. An hour ago he’d been loved, wanted, celebrated. And then those  _ things  _ had sprouted from his back. Large. Black. And the life changing bit? Unfeathered. 

A Demon’s wings. 

An automatic death sentence because those with Demon wings couldn’t be trusted, weren’t pure of heart, were the worst of the worst. Because Demons would kill you if you didn’t kill them first.

_ How? HOW!  _ He would cry when he had to kill a spider! And he HATED spiders. Why….why him?! Why give him these wings?! He was the opposite of a Demon---wasn’t he? 

Patton cried out as another bullet struck his shoulder nearly knocking him off his feet from the force as he darted again into the open and had to twist sharply to the right to avoid the mass of people coming after him from his left.  _ Crap. They’re surrounding me!  _ He frantically scanned the storefronts as he darted down the street, the wings mantling around him like a giant shield. Sirens roared into life behind him and Patton winced, noting the cars screeching to a stop around him as he raced down the sidewalk.

_ Oh Mitus, I’m going to die.  _ There were no other alleys here. No exit! Unless--He ducked into a very familiar cookie shop, his favorite to visit on bad days, and leapt over the counter, ignoring how the staff -people he’d grown close to- screamed and darted out of the way. 

His heart tore further inside his chest hearing those screams, the panic and hysteria his mere presence caused.  _ I’m not going to hurt you!  _ He wanted to yell, but he needed to save his breath. His friends hadn’t believed him when they’d seen his wings, why would these acquaintances believe him now? 

Patton raced through the back, hissing as the things caught on the various shelves of cupcakes, brownies, and cookies stored there as he maneuvered through the narrow passage to escape through the back door only to crash right into a person in a hooded cloak walking by, sending them both tumbling to the ground. 

Patton reacted first, scrambling to get off of the man, his foot slipping on the thin--his wings. Cursed things. Why did they have to be so huge?! And grabbed the other man by the arm, pulling him to his feet easily. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, are you alright?” He asked, hastily brushing off the man’s shoulders, straightening the hood covering most of his face “I didn’t see--I’m sorr--” His fingers paused as they touched the silver lightning bolt pinned onto the man’s cloak. 

Patton recoiled as if he’d been burned, his stomach dropped like an anvil.  _ A Paladin.  _ Of all the rotten horrible luck.  _ I’m going to die.  _ “I’m sorry!” He squeaked out, turning to run, his wings snapping shut to rest against his back, but the damage had already been done. 

A hand grabbed onto his wrist before he’d made it more than a couple steps, jarring his injured shoulder. Patton sobbed, struggling to break free, ignoring the lightning bolts racing up and down his arm from the wound. “Please. Don’t! I’m sorry.”  _ I don’t want to die.  _

He knew begging for mercy wouldn’t do a thing. Paladins were there to protect the innocent and with his wings, no one would assume he was anything but the aggressor. 

Everyone knew Demons were manipulative, that they would stab you in the back at the first chance they got. They couldn’t be trusted. They needed to be killed. He would be kill--. 

The man pulled him towards the wall of the cookie shop, swinging the cloak off of his shoulders and around Patton’s in one smooth moment and forced him to the ground, pulling the hood up to cover Patton’s face. 

“Keep those wings closed.” The Paladin ordered in a tone that had Patton automatically pressing his back against the wall, keeping the wings pinned down. “Don’t. Move.” He hissed, straightening and turning as the door to the cookie shop burst open with a bang, spilling out a horde of people into the narrow street. 

Patton whimpered, one hand raising to grip his injured shoulder as he huddled deeper in the shadows of the building. What was the Paladin doing?! 

“THERE HE IS!” 

Patton flinched, the wings trembling, his breath hitching as he struggled to draw a full breath. _ This was it. This was it _ .

“ **_You were looking for me_ ** ?” The Paladin asked, his voice echoing in the narrow passage. Patton glanced out from under the hood, going still as a gleaming wall of white feathers met his eyes. 

_ White feathers.  _ The rarest of shades. Especially for Paladins, who usually favored red or gold within their ranks. 

The mob hesitated, guns lowering as Patton caught confused looks among the strangers and his once-friends who had been chasing him. After all, they’d been chasing a black winged demon, not a white winged angel. 

The Paladin crossed his arms, wings spreading wider, seeming to grow brighter. “ **_Do not make me ask again. I don’t like it when guns are pointed at me without cause._ ** ” 

In a flurry of motion said weapons quickly disappeared from view.

“N-no.”

“Of course not” 

“There was a Demon!”

“We aren’t here to hurt you, Paladin.”

“A DEMON WAS HERE!”

“Did you kill it?!”

“Aww I wanted to shoot it.”

“Not you, we wouldn’t hurt you, sir.” 

“Horrible creature! Nearly took my head off.” 

“Did you see it!”

“We need to kill it!”

“ **_QUIET_ ** **.** ” The Paladin didn’t raise his voice, but the echoing quality became more menacing, leaving Patton frozen, feeling numb as the statements from the mob washed over him. 

He hadn’t harmed anyone! Not...not on purpose. He’d just been trying to stay alive! Why would these people lie--He swallowed back the bitter taste in his mouth. Why not lie? Who would believe a Demon’s side of the story? 

“ **_Am I to understand_ ** .” The Paladin’s wings flexed as his voice echoed louder around the crowd. “That you lot were chasing a demon--”

“YES!” 

The wings shimmered, purple swirling along their edges as the man dropped his hands, taking a step forward. “ **_I wasn’t finished_ ** .” He growled. The crowd shrank back, looking uneasily at each other. “ **_If there were to be a Demon on the loose-_ ** -” He raised a hand cutting off a greasy looking man who’d opened his mouth. “ _**You know to contact the nearest Paladin in your district. Not go haring off after the creature shooting at it willy nilly!”** _

Patton pressed harder against the wall, shivering as the temperature dropped around them.

The Paladin advanced on the crowd, dropping his hands. “ ** _Innocent people could get hurt from stray bullets, lives could be lost pointlessly and this Demon?_** ” He sharply gestured. “ ** _Still on the loose._** ” 

_ Oh, Mitus. What if someone HAD gotten hurt!  _ Patton gritted his teeth to keep himself quiet. Bullets had been flying. He’d nearly been hit by that bus that could have been full of people, there had been tons of cars that had slammed their brakes-- 

His wings trembled as he hunched his shoulders, fresh tears running down his cheeks. Maybe he was a monster after all. How many people had been hurt today because of him? 

“We saw him come in this place.”

“He can’t have gotten far!” 

“The staff said he’d run into the back!” 

And he was right there. Cowering against a wall with only a flimsy black cloak hiding the wings from view. Only still alive because the crowd hadn’t yet noticed him huddled there, because the Paladin hadn’t yet chosen to kill him. 

Why? Why hadn’t he been killed on the spot? Why disguise him instead? Did he not want witnesses?

“ **_The Demon could still be hiding in the store then._ ** ” The Paladin said, his tone still cool. “ **_Because no Demon ran down this street. I would have seen that._ ** ” 

Because the Paladin hadn’t let him run down the street. Patton clenched his hand, fingernails leaving grooves in his palms. Why had the man stopped him from fleeing?

“Then we--”

“ **_There is no ‘We.’_ ** ” The Paladin cut off the speaker, his feathered wings giving a sharp flap of disapproval sending the mob stumbling backwards. “ **_All of you, and I mean ALL of you, are to go to the nearest station to give your statements about your encounter with this Demon. Name, first sighting, description, path through the town-- you do know the procedure I hope._ ** ”

You’d think...but Patton knew from personal experience how well people remembered procedure when a Demon had emerged right there in front of them. He swallowed, curling up tighter in the shadows. He hadn’t even had time to explain. His best friend hadn’t even hesitated when he pulled the gun from his belt and shot at him then and there. 

“But if it’s still insi--”  _   
_

“ **_And I trust I do not need to explain to you exactly what my job entails now, do I?_ ** ” The Paladin asked, frost seeming to spring from his feet as he took another step forward, pushing the crowd further down the narrow street. “ **_I can easily handle the Demon IF,_ ** ” His tone conveyed that he thought otherwise,  **_“It’s still inside. What I don’t need is civilians in the way shooting at their own shadows while doing so._ ** ” 

“But!” 

The Paladin flapped his wings again for emphasis, sending an icy blast down the narrow street. “ **_GO._ ** ” 

Patton closed his eyes, resting his head on his knees as he listened to the mob reluctantly leave, their voices and footsteps creating a disjointed clamor that only faded when the last of them rounded the corner. 

He flinched, a quiet yelp leaving his lips as a hand rested on his shoulder. He jerked his head up, hood falling off as he met the Paladin’s violet colored eyes. 

The man crouched in front of him, his wings still half spread to keep Patton from view as he studied him. His lips twitched in a small frown as he lifted a hand, gently brushing at the tears still fresh on Patton’s cheek, ignoring how he tensed at the touch. “Idiots.” He muttered, voice no longer echoing as he ran his fingers through Patton’s hair.

Patton shivered, he usually liked having people play with his hair, but this guy was a stranger, a Paladin. “What are you--” He flinched as the Paladin pulled back, the frown more apparent. His violet eyes darkened as he pulled an edge of the cloak back, his fingers brushing the edge of Patton’s wings before pausing at his injured shoulder. 

“Are you injured elsewhere? Will you be able to walk?” He asked in a low tone.

Walk? “W-why does it matter?” Patton whispered, blinking rapidly to keep the tears back. “Aren’t...aren’t you going to kill me?” There were no witnesses now. 

The Paladin raised an eyebrow, studying Patton’s eyes before he smirked, shaking his head. “Nope.” 

The wings shifted under the cloak as Patton gaped at him. “Why not?” He asked, hunching his shoulders. “I’m a….” He ducked his head, struggling to get the next word out. “ _ Demon _ .” Paladins killed Demons that was their whole job description! 

The Paladin scoffed, white wings glowing brighter as he pulled the hood back up to hide Patton’s face. “No, you’re not.” He stated simply, gesturing with two fingers to his wet cheeks. “Demons can’t cry.” 


End file.
